D.G. Kaye's Blog, page 74

Q and A with D.G. Kaye – Featuring Author Jane Sturgeon – Writing on Water

I’m delighted to be featuring here the Lovely Jane Sturgeon and her new book – Writing on Water, today at Q and A with D.G. Kaye. In this nonfiction book, Jane writes about self-awareness, reflection, and getting in tune with our inner selves. Jane is a pure delight to be around. Her goodness and content heart shine through in all her writing. I’m thrilled to have Jane over here today spreading her inspiration.       About Jane: Jane has been a systems analyst, trainer, technical author, painter, psychic medium, furniture restorer, de-clutterer, therapist and creative. She has lived in Africa and The States, looked after many farms, loved through two marriages, is Mum to an extraordinary young woman and loves making things. She lives next to the Mersey River where it meets the Irish Sea and shares her life with loved ones and an impressive collection of yarn. Self-awareness is the first book in her Writing on Water series.     Blurb: Each one of us holds stories about ourselves and these drive our lives. Thoughts are attached to emotions and actions spring from how we feel. Old stories can be re-written, new stories can be crafted and discoveries are made along the way. It is the tapestry of life and yes, you can weave with whatever threads you choose. Loving support, fresh perspectives and new life tools can make all the difference.   First and Lovely 5 star review for Jane’s book:   L. Carmichael 5.0 out of 5 stars Learning from a coach, Understanding how to move forward, all good advice December 25, 2019 Format: Kindle Edition Life is a journey. When you amass knowledge and experience, it’s a generous and caring gift to offer that information to others. Jane Sturgeon has done so with her book, Writing on Water: Self-awareness. I became acquainted with this author through her blog, where she shares advice, thoughts, and feedback with others. Based on what she’s accomplished and undertaken in her life thus far, the words and wisdom will benefit many readers. The book is on the shorter side, perhaps an intro for more to come from this author. Her advice in this edition focuses on tenderness, knowing when enough is enough, sea glass impressions, instincts, things we love, getting all twisted up, being hijacked (emotionally), and staying small. Within each of these sections, Jane shares a life experience, not always a positive one, that led to her awakening or spiritual conflict. Considering what to do when in a difficult relationship? Frustrated by people who try to take over your life? Uncertain how to relax and just let time tell you what you need to do? All these questions and many more come to the surface. The book is not religious; if anything, I’d say it’s spiritual, forming a connection with the natural world and the silence around us. In a moment of need, Jane was thoroughly nervous and angry about a situation she had to handle. All the negativity almost ensured her situation would conclude far worse than she hoped, but something intervened, and in the end, Jane was given a gift. What a wonderful way to see your life turn around, even in smaller increments, when you need it to. I was most impressed by Jane’s life experience between 18 and 21 in South Africa. She had tons of courage and conviction, something I don’t think I could’ve found in my youth. So… if you’d like to read about a wonderfully kind and open-minded woman’s opinions, learn from a life coach, and determine what might need some change in your life, this would be a good intro book, as it’s filled with tangible evidence of how altering her mindset helped Jane move forward. I’m glad to have the opportunity to read the book and share a review with you. The last line is the best… and I won’t share it all… but I will say “held us back from flowing with authenticity” is an eye-opening section.   Time to get to know more about Jane:   Do events in your daily life inspire your writing ideas? Yes, every day. I can catch a glimpse of the seagulls flying in formation, a pattern in the waves, the joy of a dog running across the beach or overhear a snippet of conversation in the local shop and the words will start to stream in. It is always linked to how something makes me feel. D.G. – I know this about you Jane. You certainly know how to appreciate all the beauty the world as to offer.   Is there something you wish you were better at with the self publishing process? Marketing and promoting. Goodness me, I have been caught unawares by how much you need to do this as an indie author. I am learning more about it every day and it’s a ‘work in progress’. I have discovered that it helps to be unafraid to try different things, to listen and observe others and what they do and to laugh when I trip up. It is a steep learning curve yet rewarding as you start to realise the different things you are capable of and feel the wonderful support from fellow indies. D.G. – Lol Jane, it is a rude awakening isn’t it? There is so much to becoming a published writer that it sometimes feels the writing is the smallest part of what we do. Thank goodness for our wonderful community to help us along.   Do you believe in ‘writer’s block’? If so, how do you deal with it? I believe that everything in life is an energy and our creativity comes from our inner energy source. If we’re tired, stressed, upset, hungry or strung out, then our creative energy is depleted. Our balance is out of whack. We sit down to write and as our bucket dips into the creative well, the energy source is low or not there at all. I have found that pushing is fruitless, so I switch tack into self-care. Walking helps, as does rest, making things with my hands, or seeing friends. Chocolate does find its way into the mix sometimes and I try not to have any in the house, as the nearest shop is up a very steep hill (which is a blessing). D.G. – You’ve said a mouthful Jane. I do concur though, no point banging our heads on keyboards when the energy isn’t there. Best to find something else to work on and eventually inspiration finds us again.   Jane is sharing an Excerpt from her book with us:   Enough I recall a well-known agony aunt in the United Kingdom, the lovely Denise Robertson, saying that most of the letters she received were rooted in lack of self- worth. The inner tape of not being good enough can drive us in so many little ways, most of which we are unaware of. We can decide to gift ourselves time to exercise, start a new project, try to create different meals, see friends more often, begin a night class; all manner of new things and then we prioritise other things in their place. In our technology-led lives, we are constantly bombarded with messages on how to improve ourselves. There’s irony there, because the underlying message can be perceived as us not being good enough as we are, which adds to the inner tape playing. It’s no wonder we stall and struggle to introduce new things into our daily round. In the few hours I had gifted myself to write this morning as soon as I was comfortable with a fresh coffee by my side, my internal chatter started. ‘Did you put cream on your legs after your bath this morning?’ ‘Have you put a load of laundry in the washing machine?’ ‘Your plants need de-heading before it gets too hot.’ The inner chat is constant and is the root of much internal distraction and self- sabotage. If we listen, we get in the way of ourselves and stay safe in the familiar, whilst messing up anything new we try to start. Stalling on hopes, dreams and wishes is not a reflection on us not being good enough, because we certainly are. It’s about us living; exploring, trying different things, taking a risk, experimenting on what brings us joy and peeling back the gossamer layers to find out who we really are. It is about us discovering our truth. ***   I wish to say a heartfelt ‘Thank you’ to Debby for her generosity, support and kindness in creating a post for me on her fabulous blog. From her huge heart she lifts and inspires many of us and her friendship is a gift.       Jane, I am so humbled. It was a pleasure having you and your beautiful book over here today. Thank you too for the beautiful image. You are such a delight. ♥   Visit Jane on all her Social Platforms:   Web site: https://www.janesturgeon.com Blog: https://www.janesturgeon.wordpress.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janesturgeon... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jane.sturge... Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/JaneSturgeon3 Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JaneStur...  

Change in Writing Habits, Book Break the New Book

  Today I’m talking about how I notice some of my writing habits have changed through the years. When I wrote my first 6 books, I was disciplined differently. I did my writing first thing in the morning right after breakfast – or the day would surely distract me. But as the order of life sometimes changes, so has my writing.   I could write a rough draft in 2-3 months of writing 5 days a week with anywhere from 100 to 2000 words in a session, depending on the inspiration – sometimes the well is empty. After writing time, I’d move to the computer. Writing all my drafts in longhand comes in handy when wanting to stay off the computer to avoid distraction. After checking out blog comments, posts and social media, and although writing for the day was done, I then spent time in between the daily grind of life, reading articles on learning the trade of self- publishing and homing in on the craft of writing. It’s now well over a year since I put out a new book. Oh sure, I was working on one, but somehow my enthusiasm wasn’t there, and I stopped enjoying the writing. Then life happened – a lot, then came winter vacation escape, and finally, I realized that I just needed a year off from the disciplined mandate of writing a book. In that time of not writing a book I was still writing. I write 2 monthly columns, blog articles, book reviews, run guest interviews and have been featured as a guest myself on many blogs, and have even ventured into writing poetry more seriously. There’s no shortage of writing in my life, I just wasn’t feeling inspired to write another book without a timeout from the burnout of publishing 6 books in 5 years. Each of those books took up a good 6-8 months of my life, and I realized how swiftly life is passing by, and decided I need to be living a bit more before committing to a new project. So, I learned to accept my welcomed book writing break and learned it was okay to not be writing a book for a while. The only pressure I had  was self-imposed, so I finally admitted I don’t have to write a book every day for the rest of my life, and if I’ve lost the interest for a particular project, it’s okay to abandon it. Now that doesn’t mean that all the work I’d put in would go to the delete bin. All it meant that the started manuscript would live in rest in a folder until such time I may get inspired to go back to it. In that time away from book writing, without the rules of my self-imposed discipline hanging over me, instructing myself to write first thing in the morning, I didn’t always only write in the morning anymore. And I noticed I was developing new writing habits – writing spontaneously as compared to writing by schedule. In my old writing habits, If the morning had passed and I was into my daily activities, I was done writing till the next morning. If an idea sprouted to mind, I’d simply jot down a sentence with the idea in a notebook to keep for fodder for a future a topic to write about. But now, throughout this past year plus that I haven’t put out a new book, I have found that random ideas have taken up more of my immediate attention—going with the inspiration when it hits. Instead of just making a notation, which would have certainly had a different interpretation than the one I originally had in mind from the magic of the moment, instead of jut jotting the thought down and left to meld into the many other fleeting ideas, I’ll immediately pick up a notebook and write what comes to mind about that topic, while it’s fresh in my mind, dropping whatever I’m doing in that moment to take advantage of the moment. I have notepads scattered in almost every room with ideas and started stories waiting to be told, instead of just ideas that were left as a sentence,  never to be found again in the midst of a mountain of notepads. And I’m quite enjoying being a spontaneous writer. I’ve amassed several ideas for books and blogs this past year from random ideas that come to mind. Through this new, no pressure process, I was sparked by an interesting book blurb I’d read while browsing through some books on Amazon, sparking a new idea for a book to write, which has since become a new enjoyable experience again. I’m thrilled to have my book writing mojo back. It felt good to find inspiration again and to be starting a new project, despite the multitude of interruptions from daily life, and despite not always getting to write first thing in the morning or working on the book daily, My raw first draft is ready to be entered into the computer now where first round revisions will begin. I’ll be taking a winter escape break in a short few weeks, so when I return, I’ll be diving into rewrite mode as I enter my stories. As it seems life may be taking on new directions for us this year – again taking up a lot of my personal time and brain space, I hope to publish early summer. At least I now have a plan. I suppose the bonus is, the longer I allow my  manuscript to marinate in-between edit rounds is a good thing. And so, perhaps you may be wondering what I’m working on? Because it’s still a work in progress, I don’t want to give too much away, but suffice it to say, as a memoir writer, you can expect more personal stories. This book is based on ‘first times’ of doing things in life – my life. The title has yet to be finalized, but the working title is ‘Fifteen First Times’, the subtitle is: The Good, The Bad, The Funny, and The Sad. They may be my stories, but they’re relatable, and sometimes moving. So, if you enjoy reading my books, I’m confident you’ll want to read this one!   Here is a ‘very’ rough draft of a ‘working’ blurb: A collection of first-times in life where Kaye takes us with her on some of the big moments of life’s most natural events through the intimate, conversational style we’ve come to know from this author’s style for extracting the meatiest moments in life and getting to the heart of each matter, delivered with sincerity and inflections of humor.   Have you noticed your writing habits have changed through the year? ©DGKaye2020      

Sunday Book Review – Polish Your Prose by Harmony Kent

Welcome back to a new year of my Sunday Book Reviews. In this first review of the year I’m featuring my review for Harmony Kent’s – Polish Your Prose. This book is an invaluable guide book for every writer’s desktop to have nearby for both refreshing the seasoned writer and a must have for every new writer.     Blurb: Polish Your Prose is a powerful new guide that gives essential editing tips for authors. Lots of books have been written on the art of writing, and here—at last—is a guide that will teach you the essential techniques of editing your own book. This will help you turn a promising manuscript into a published novel. And, it does this without the jargon. You don’t need to know all the grammatical terms in order to make use of this book. You don’t need to know the definition of a split infinitive, a comma splice, or a ‘to be’ verb, as this manual explains these in detail in easy to understand terms, and a lively and engaging style. Chapters on Passive Writing, Tense, Point of View, Dialogue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an editor would go through to polish and perfect your manuscript. Good writing is nothing without good editing. Learn the secrets of good editing and writing with this essential author reference, which offers so much more for so much less. Harmony Kent is an award winning author, and accomplished editor and proofreader. Her passion is helping Indie Authors to successfully achieve their goals and dreams. New Apple Book Awards Top Medalist Winner 2015 “This book is a mine of useful information. It’s concise and easy to understand. You don’t have to wade through pages upon pages of chatter; Harmony Kent gets straight to the point. ” — Michelle Abbott, Romance Author “If the complexities of grammar and punctuation sometimes confound you – this gem of a book is for you. This is a guide I’ll be dipping into over and over.”–Wendy Scott, Fantasy Author   My 5 Star Review: A concise  writer’s guide written in simplicity with easy to refer to chapters, no filler babble in these bite-sized chapters to help hone your editing skills. This book succinctly covers chapters on all bibs and bobs of writing a clean and concise manuscript. However, this is not a book about how to write a book, but rather, a complete checklist on the dos and don’ts of writing clean, complete with easy to understand lessons with examples covering all the topics that make for better writing. In this book Kent covers such topics as: show don’t tell, how to avoid head-hopping, weeding out adverbs and cliches, importance of staying in tense, use of contractions, dialogue tags, overuse of starting sentences with same pronouns, common stylistic and grammar issues, and more! Kent also adds good tips for proofreading, what to include when writing book reviews – and what not to, how to handle bad reviews, and once learning the rules – how they can be broken. Polish Your Prose also includes added bonus charts on common word replacements from British to American English, and a list of commonly used words that are used incorrectly. Point of view use is also discussed and demonstrated with concise examples. This book is a handy guide for writers on all levels. For the seasoned writer, it’s a wonderful refresher guide for those moments we are stumped while revising and editing. And for new writers, it’s a must have on every desktop.  

Q and A with D.G. Kaye featuring Author, Blogger and Promoter Sally Cronin

I’m thrilled to be featuring Sally Cronin here today. Sally is always so busy promoting the work of other authors, it’s her turn to shine in the spotlight today! For those of you unfamiliar with Sally (is that possible?), she has authored a dozen books, both fiction and nonfiction. She is a nutritionist who shares lots of health information on her blog – Smorgasbord Invitation, along with featuring authors and their books in  her Smorgasbord Cafe, lots of entertainment and monthly columns from featured guest writers (which I’m delighted to be one of them), and so much more! The title of Sally’s blog was the perfect name for a blog full of so many interesting, informative and delightful articles churned out on a daily basis. You can visit Sally’s blog and learn about all her author promotion offerings.         About Sally: I have enjoyed a nomadic existence living in eight countries including Sri Lanka, Malta, South Africa, USA and Spain, before settling back here in Ireland. My work, and a desire to see some of the most beautiful parts of the world in the last forty years, has taken me to many more incredible destinations around Europe and Canada, and across the oceans to New Zealand and Hawaii. All those experiences and the people that I have met, provide a rich source of inspiration for my stories. After a career in customer facing roles in the hospitality, retail, advertising and telecommunications industry, I wrote and published my first book in 1999 called Size Matters, about my weight loss journey, losing 150lbs in 18 months. This was followed by 11 further fiction and non-fiction books, including a number of short story collections. My first book release resulted in a radio interview in Spain that led to four years as a nutritional consultant for an English language station, and this was followed by four years with my own health show and Sunday morning show on local radio station in the UK and then as station director, newsreader and presenter for an online television station. As a writer I know how important it is to have help in marketing books and from 2002 I have been working with authors on their book launches and publicity. At that time it was very much physical book launches and press coverage locally to stimulate national interest.. Today it is very different with a global market via the worldwide web. As important as my own promotion is, I believe it is important to support others within our community. I offer a number of FREE promotional opportunities on my blog, linked to my social media. If you are an author who would like to be promoted to a new audience of dedicated readers, please contact me via my blog. All it will cost you is a few minutes of your time. Look forward to hearing from you.     Blurb:     My 5 Star Review: Sally Cronin certainly is a master at weaving with words. No matter how many or few, her words will paint a complete story and leave us with a satisfactory optimism or a tug at our heartstrings. In this author’s newest release of tales to inspire, we’ll find a smorgasbord of forms of writing from various forms of poetry – Haiku, Etherees and Cinquain poetry to condensed micro fiction, where stories are wrapped up complete despite a minimal word count, to short stories on speculative fiction. A wonderful mixed bag of tales covering topics such as: random thoughts, seasons, aging, nature, holidays, fairies, romance, pets, to the human condition and life lessons. My favorite Flash Fiction story – The Witch’s Handbook Spell #356 – Removal of Inhibitions for ‘The Devilish Mojito’, and her heartwarming short stories like The Ugly Mutt that will keep you engaged as evil doers try to do harm, kept me cheering for Brian. One story in particular had me glued from beginning to end – Great Aunt Georgina. This story begins with a little girl and her family visiting her Grandma. The little girl looked forward to those visits where Grandma would pull out the old photo albums and introduce her to family of the past era. In later years, after Gran is gone the girl now in her twenties learns a never told family secret, discovered by looking through old letters sent to her Gran Elizabeth by her sister Georgina. From the letters we learn about betrayal, grief, karma, and reckoning (no spoilers), and ultimately, forgiveness. The last half of the book is focused on the short stories. Among them, I also enjoyed the story about Onions that ended a marriage, a magical tale – A Moment of Alignment – about love, loss and a chance to meet up with a lost loved one when the sun and the moon align, and The Enhancement Project– a sci-fi short where Cronin manages to zing in her ‘known for’ sentimental ending. Sally Cronin has the knack for bringing in emotions to her stories no matter the genre. She wraps up the book beautifully with a fashionable tribute to ‘The Duchess‘, a tribute to Cronin’s mother. A wonderful book with something to satisfy all genre readers. I highly recommend.   Now, let’s see what Sally is up to!   How lovely to be invited over to your house Debby and thank you for the opportunity to talk about myself and my writing. D.G. – My absolute pleasure to have you over and share some new things about yourself and your work Sal. It’s a treat to put you in the spotlight after all you do for so many of us at your Smorgasbord Invitation.   If you weren’t a writer what else do you think you would do? I think that ship might have sailed now, as apart from being a bit long in the tooth to be embarking on a new full-time career, I am obsessed with writing. However, despite working in a number of different industries, if I had my time over again, I would have chosen the police force as my career. It was an option when I was 18 years old, but women in the police force nearly 50 years ago did not have the same opportunities as they do today. However, if I was that age again, I would certainly apply to be a police officer and would welcome the opportunity to work hard and become a detective. I have always enjoyed reading detective and crime novels and also real crime stories. I find it fascinating and I think I would have been good at the job. D.G. – Whodathunk? I would have never figured you for a police officer – but a detective – oh ya! Lol.   What can you tell us you’ve gained from blogging as an author? As an author and a person I have gained a huge amount from blogging over the last seven years. And you Debby have been a major part of that journey for the last five years, and along with other supportive and generous bloggers, it has provided a safe and creative environment to write and experiment with different styles and genres. Interaction with others is so inspiring and motivating, and the encouragement of people you respect is essential for a writer. Importantly, especially for those just starting out in blogging or their writing career in general, it must be a two way street. That is the only way strong and long lasting relationships are developed. If you want to reap the benefits of blogging you need to reach out, connect, and offer the same level of support to others that they offer in return. I feel very strongly that moving passed our immediate circle of friends and family, out into the global village of blogging, is a way to keep young in heart, body and mind. It is a social, stimulating way to build friendships and keep learning and writing our entire lives. D.G. – Thanks for the kudos Sal. But, it’s no wonder you and I connected because we have so many of the same beliefs in common, especially when it comes to blogging protocol. Like anything in life – you get what you give.

Have Your Life Experiences Helped Determine Your Favored Genres?

What makes us gravitate to certain genres?   I’ve always preferred reading nonfiction to fiction since as far back as I can remember reading. I had a fascination with anything ‘true story’, going back to the days my mother left her rag magazines openly displayed on her bedroom night table. I do believe one of them was in fact called ‘True Confessions’. I grew up as a child who felt compelled to keep up with the goings on in my growing up life, feeling as though I lived on a perpetual wheel of a ‘need to know’ basis. So, I’m pretty sure my curiosity about life and people began at an early age. I needed to know the truth and the whys about things. My chosen genre of reading preference came natural to me. I loved to learn fascinating stories about people, their dilemmas and resolutions. and I’d imagine myself – inserting myself in other’s stories forcing myself to think about how I would deal with that situation. My hobby of studying people came to me by the time I was 7 or 8. And my mother was a fascinating subject to begin with. I was approaching 9 years of age, and when having to spend ‘electronic-less’ weekends at my paternal, orthodox grandparents’ house, I began reading the newspaper—mainly, the advice columns by ‘Dear Abbie’ and ‘Dear Ann Landers’.  I was fascinated by the idea that any random person could write a letter to these famous ladies who appeared to have all the magical solutions for people’s problems. As the years progressed, to add some spice to my reading pleasure, I moved into reading women’s and historical fiction, and the odd book in the Chick-lit genre as a ‘great escape’ type of read. Of course, I do love me a good thriller too. After all, I do like to learn what motivates the antagonists too, to learn what spurs their evil ways. Even as a child I’d opt for a paperback over comics any day. People have always fascinated me, and I had developed a passionate curiosity of people and what makes us all tick. I’d take a true story over a fairytale anytime. I do also enjoy watching certain themed types of TV shows to satisfy my entertainment and curious pleasure. I love an engaging storyline that makes me think, as opposed to watching mindless TV. Thinking is how I relax. Although I do know that thinking is an action word, my relaxing is me always doing something, keeping busy, even while watching TV. My go to favorites:  documentaries, historical WWII era survival stories, family sagas, medical and legal dramas. Why do I gravitate to such shows? Because these kinds of shows all encompass a sense of the human condition. These may seem like differing genres, but in effect, all these genres tie in with human relationships, saving people, injustices, compassion and sometimes redemption. I also enjoy watching police serials such as Dateline and Twenty/Twenty. As sad as these shows can be to watch, they ignite the element of human nature and emotion, demonstrating what makes people motivated to do the things they do, for both the good and the bad. I suppose it’s plain to see I enjoy writing about what I also like to watch, read and observe. So, depending on the genre of our choice, we often write about things we’ve seen and observed and translate into a story that fits best in our preferred genres of writing. For me it’s truth and why that captures my attention. One doesn’t have to go much further than their own couch to study people. There is much to be learned from human behavior from watching TV. Crime, justice, medical shows all involving the human condition–reasons for actions, actions despite consequences, desperation inspired crimes, manipulation – it’s all connected to the human spirit. And I just find human beings fascinating to study.   @DGKaye2020    

Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge – What’s in your Hutch?

Charli Mills invites us to join in her weekly Flash Fiction Challenge at the CarrotRanch. The rules – 99 words only – no more – no less. We must choose our words carefully. As with each challenge, Charli gives us a word we incorporate into the story. This week is to write about something you find in a ‘hutch’.   January 2, 2019, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about something found in a hutch. It can be any kind of hutch — a box for critters or a chest for dishes. Go where the prompt leads!     Regal   They stood tall and proud. None wished to be snatched away, or worse, – broken! For decades these worthy icons remained admired and sought after, not only for beauty, but, their ever-increasing monetary value. The older, the more valuable. A grand mix of ethnic backgrounds co-existing in silence. Such greats as: Lalique, Capodimonte, Royal Doulton, and Russian nesting eggs sat perched on a shelf protected behind the beautifully scallop-edged fine glass doors housing the regal cabinet where they all lived in harmony in all their diversity. Time’s treasures of hidden wealth and ancient lore communing in one dining room hutch. ©DGKaye2020   Original Source: https://carrotranch.com/2020/01/03/ja...

Sunday Movie Review – Green Book – Best Picture 2019

Today’s Sunday Movie Review is for Best Picture – Oscar winning movie Green Book. As many of my readers here know, besides the books I prefer to read for light entertainment and escape, my favorite books and movies all have the components of the human spirit and condition based story lines. This is a factual based story of classical American jazz pianist, Dr. Don Shirley on his roadtrip tour with a most unlikely character – Italian, mob-like Tony the Lip as his hired driver who drives Shirley around on tour in the deep south in 1962, at a time where blacks were being segregated. After watching this movie, it’s isn’t difficult to see why it won for best picture.   Story line: – As written by IMDB.com Story line In 1962, Tony “Tony Lip” Vallelonga, a tough bouncer, is looking for work when his nightclub is closed for renovations. The most promising offer turns out to be the driver for the African-American classical pianist Don Shirley for a concert tour into the Deep South states. Although hardly enthused at working for a black man, Tony accepts the job and they begin their trek armed with The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide for safe travel through America’s racial segregation. Together, the snobbishly erudite pianist and the crudely practical bouncer can barely get along with their clashing attitudes to life and ideals. However, as the disparate pair witness and endure America’s appalling injustices on the road, they find a newfound respect for each other’s talents and start to face them together. In doing so, they would nurture a friendship and understanding that would change both their lives.     My 5 Star Review: New York city, 1962, the Copa nightclub where Tony Lip’s job as ‘bouncer’ comes to a halt because of renovations to the club, leaving him looking for odd jobs to fill in his time and paycheck until the renovations are finished. At the same time, Afro-American classical  pianist,  Dr. Don Shirley is in search of a driver who can safely drive him throughout the deep south for his road tour. Tony, as we are first introduced to him would seem the most unlikely character Shirley would pick for the task, but ultimately, Tony becomes the best pick Shirley could have hoped for as demonstrated through the story line. Tony is given the ‘Green Book’ to help him navigate the journey, which includes maps and offers ‘places to stay for black people’ while traveling. Tony’s low-class, loud mouthed, uncultured, racketeering persona is very off-putting for esteemed Dr. Shirley, yet, as the movie progresses, the two form a bond of friendship, and a learning and acceptance for one another’s plight in life. Tony’s terrible use of language and mobster styled behavior eventually brings the snobbish Doc down a few pegs after spending much time alone together, and after realizing that it was those very unbecoming features of his driver that would help save the life of the good doctor. As their friendship grows and Tony is faced with defending Doc many times through the journey – getting him out of a lot of racist jams, Tony also learns to appreciate the music of the prodigy doctor. A wonderful movie about friendship and loyalty despite the ugliness of racism.   The story behind the story: The movie was written by ‘Tony the Lip’s’ son, Nick Vallelonga, who was 5 years old at the time Tony set out for his first tour with Shirley. When he returned and shared many of the road stories about some of the terrible things they encountered on the road of racism, young Nick vowed to make a movie about it someday – and he did. Dr. Shirley made him promise that he wouldn’t share the story publicly until he would die. Shirley died in 2013. You can read more about this true story of blind faith and friendship here, from the Smithsonianmag.            

New Series of Posts from Your Archives 2020 – Two of your posts from the last 12 months. | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

It’s a new year and that means Sally Cronin has some wonderful new author promotions. For this new series, Sally invites authors and bloggers to submit two of your favorite posts from 2019 that she will breed new life into and feature at the Smorgasbord Invitation.   New Series of Posts from Your Archives 2020 – Two of your posts from the last 12 months.     Happy New Year and I hope that you are looking forward to an amazing year of blogging.  I think we all have some posts that we are most proud of and would like to reach a wider audience. The aim of Posts from your Archives is to do just that. The aim of this series is to showcase your blog and any creative work that you do from books, art, photography and crafts. You pick two posts that you have written for your own blog in 2019, and you simply send the link to those blogs to sally.cronin@moyhill.com You have to do nothing more as I will capture the post and images from your blog and I will then post with full copyright to you.. with your creative work and your links to buy and to connect. I might sometimes need a little more information but I am quite resourceful in finding out everything I need. Posts from Your Archives in 2019 was amazing and over 100 bloggers participated with over 400 posts that have reached a different audience and encouraged more readers for their own blogs and current posts. Please continue reading at Sally’s blog. . .   Source: New Series of Posts from Your Archives 2020 – Two of your posts from the last 12 months. | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

Q and A with D.G. Kaye – Featuring Carol Balawyder – Warning Signs #Thriller

Happy New Year everyone! Welcome back to my first Q and A of the year with today’s feature, French- Canadian author, Carol Balawyder and her new #Thriller release – Warnings Signs. I’m a big fan of Carol’s writing and have read all her books from her heartfelt memoir – Mourning Has Broken to her Mr. Right series, and now her newest release – a psychological thriller, which I’ve recently finished reading and will be thrilled to share my review soon. Carol is one of my oldest blogging friends I connected with soon after I first began blogging. So with no further ado, I’m delighted to introduce you to Carol.       About Carol: I was born and brought up in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada but have lived most of my life in Montreal. As a child, learning to speak, I had the good fortune of acquiring English and French simultaneously.  My early outside world was a French neighborhood while my inside world (home) was the language and culture of my Slavic roots – a mixture of Russian and Polish though because of the wars it is hard to tell exactly. I taught English for years at different colleges and universities, including Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology in Vietnam. Because I was unable to find suitable material for the Business English course I was teaching, using my then married name Carol Ann Fournier, I created Open for Business a student workbook, along with a teacher’s guide and tape. After completing a Master’s Degree in Criminology from The University of Montreal, I taught criminology in the Police Technology and Corrections Programs at Ahuntsic College in Montreal. In the midst of my divorce and my sister and mother’s deaths, I wrote my comedy-romantic Getting to Mr. Right series and Mourning has Broken, a collection of vignettes on grief and loss. My short stories have appeared in Room Magazine, Mindful.org, The Anthology of Canadian Writers. I manage a blog www.carolbalawyder.com where I post on various categories: Famous Writers’ Desks, Female Nobel  Prize Laureates in Literature, Review of books written by fellow bloggers, Femme Fatales, and my dog, Bau. Check it out! Warning Signs is my debut novel in the crime genre.     Blurb: Eugene’s research into his criminal mind is not about the why, but how to prevent his horrific crimes. Angie, a young woman starving for passion sees Eugene as her saviour from a lonely life of caring for her heroin addicted mother. How far is she willing to go in order to save her relationship with Eugene and his promise for a future together? Detective Van Ray is out on a vindictive mission as he attempts to solve the murders of young girls in Youth Protection. Their lives collide in a mixture of mistrust, obsession and ignoring the warning signs. A psychological thriller about human frailty and loneliness.   Time to get to know more about Carol:   Do some of your own character traits or personal experiences spill into your book’s characters?     There I am, age twenty-seven, writing on a Smith Corona typewriter. I was working on a novel which I never finished but I still have it somewhere along with a stack of other first drafts. At times, when I come across them, I tell myself that I’ll get back to them when I’m old and don’t know what to do with my time. Well, I’m old now and have plenty to do with my time. Writing has come in waves with me. There were times that I thought of giving it up completely and did so for a few months, even years, but it crept back up on me. The photo was taken in a cabin up in the Quebec Laurentians along Riviere Rouge. Both the cabin and Riviere Rouge are part of the setting for my latest novel Warning Signs. D.G. – Fantastic backstory Carol. And you are from from old!   Who is your favorite author and why? Julian Barnes. Hands down. He not only is a terrific writer but I love what he writes about, especially his latest novel The Only Story. Having said this, there are so many other authors that I love. Some of them write about romance, some memoirs or biographies and of course crime novels, in particular domestic crime novels such as Leila Slimani (The Perfect Nanny), Paula Hawkins (The Girl on the Train) and Shari Lapena (The Couple Next Door). With my dog, Bau, we volunteer at a school in Point St. Charles (one of Canada’s poorest neighborhoods) for children with special needs. Wanting to do a bit of research on The Point in order to use as setting for a future novel, I googled and came across the writer Kathy Dobson’s memoir of growing up there. I was expecting a serious book – after all nothing funny about poverty, right? But Kathy Dobson is hilarious as she questions the differences between social classes and presents a candid and provoking voice as first hand witness to being brought up in poverty all in a style reminiscent of The Catcher in the Rye. Having a favorite author is like having a favorite song. The song is number one for a few weeks or even months on the charts and then there’s another number one to replace it. These days Kathy Dobson is one of my favorite authors. It was a great discovery for me, especially her being practically from my doorsteps.   Do your books have messages in them? In writing a post on Olga Tokarczuk – the latest Nobel Prize Laureate for literature – I came across this quote of hers: “… just writing a book to know who is the killer is wasting paper and time, so I decided to put into it animal rights and a story of dissenting citizens who realize that the law is immoral and see how far can they can go with saying no to it.” This made me think about the messages I am interested in exploring through my writing. Messages about loneliness, poverty, homelessness and social injustice. In my Getting to Mr. Right series I touch upon such subjects as Multiple Sclerosis, Down Syndrome and the Prince Charming Myth. I love the research part of writing and therefore try to tackle a subject which I have little knowledge about. I know…write what you know but sometimes I find that boring. In my latest novel, I took a risk in writing about a serial killer whereby I wanted to give the message that although his actions were monstrous, there was also a lot of hurt and rage inside of him because of childhood abuses. As a criminologist, my goal was to try to understand his abhorrent behavior in the hopes that a “cure” may be possible for these lost and evil inhabited souls and to put forth the hypothesis that one is not necessarily born evil but a product of many other factors, such as upbringing, social inequalities and environmental dynamics and personality disorders. I was also interested in the betrayal theme and obsession. D.G. – Fascinating insights Carol. And I think ‘write what you know’ is a good starting point layered with always learning.   How do you promote your work? Do you find marketing and social media overwhelming? Forget about how I promote my work. I’m really weak at that and am grateful for my blogging community to invite me for reviews. Thank you, Debby, for your generosity and interest in my writing. What I really want to talk about is blogging. Do I find social media overwhelming? Yes. Double yes. Triple yes. Now, understand that I manage only a blog. I am on no other social media and wonder how those who are on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, Pinterest and so forth do it. It’s not that I don’t find these platforms interesting. On the contrary, but I can hardly keep up to blogging even once a week, let alone updating my website and keeping up with my fellow bloggers. D.G. – I feel your pain Carol. I am one of those ‘all over the map’ when it comes to trying to be everywhere and still churn out some writing. It’s overwhelming to say the least!   Do you have an interesting writing quirk or habit that helps you with your writing? It’s not so much a quirk or habit but rather a belief and has to do with co-creating with the Universe. I am a firm believer in being guided and connected to spirit energy to assist me in my writing and to open my mind to write with clarity, sensitivity and joy. Hopefully. Before I begin to write, I usually start off by listening to an inspirational message. For example, before writing my answers to these questions I listened to Pura Rasa (Receiving Messages & Blessings from Spirit Guides). While writing I mostly always listen to background music which inspires creativity, concentration and focus. Two channels I like are Brainwave Power Music and The Brainwave Hub but there are many more such as Denzel Washington’s video on the importance of gratitude.   Drop expectations and try to keep positive. D.G. – I love your ritual Carol; I can definitely see how becoming one with yourself and thoughts can help quiet the mind and help with creativity. Thank you for sharing this video and for being with us here today. I enjoyed learning more about you.   Visit Carol on Social Links: WEB SITE: www.carolbalawyder.com BLOG: www.carolbalawyder.com/blog Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/carolba... Smashwords –  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...    

Happy New Year! What’s on Your Plate for 2020?

Just a short note to wish you all – my friends and readers, a Happy New Year filled with all good things, love, and good health.     Honestly, I’m not sure where the year has gone. It seems it was just September, life is going a tad too quickly it seems, a good reminder to be grateful for every day we wake up to a new one. I can’t quite track where this past year has gone and all that transpired. However, I do remember spending the first 2 glorious months of the year in Mexico, and although not quite for 2 months this coming, year, I’m looking soooooo forward to returning there again. I expect January to fly as I seem to have an ever-growing and lengthy to do list before our February winter jaunt. I’ve also just about completed first draft to a new book I’ve been working on this past year, and that should take me well into the spring or early summer to ready for publication, considering I will be leaving it for marination while away. So that’s my first half year planned, lol. As for the rest—I’ll leave it up to destiny!   Happy New Year!